Trust God Only

Today I was reading this devotional from my book Devotions for Working Women about putting our trust in God and not in humans and want to share it with you. We need to continually remind ourselves that it is God the one who can do something about our situations or challenges, not people. When we trust Him, He comes through for us.

Don’t Put Your Trust in Humans
# 300
Isaiah 2:22 (NLT)
Stop putting your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. How can they be of help to anyone?

It is sad to see how people trust men more than God in many, if not all, areas of their lives. In today’s job market, we cannot trust other people or companies to provide us a job for life. It simply doesn’t work that way anymore. Companies are bought and sold as an everyday occurrence with little thought of the employees’ well-being. It is a look out for yourself environment. Our only source for a job is God. He is the only one we can trust to provide and meet every need in our lives—including our jobs.

It is unhealthy for a leader to promise job security for their employees and say they will never be fired. This is a manipulative and controlling tactic that creates a dependency on the employer from the employee’s part. In that environment, employees don’t have an incentive to improve their performance, and they get lazy. The company ends up with unmotivated employees causing productivity to decline. Those same employees become deadweight employees who can’t be fired because the leader doesn’t want to break his promise. At the same time, it creates a false sense of loyalty on the employee’s part. They think they can’t leave the company because they are not being loyal to their leader. It is a lose-lose situation in every way.

We are to be loyal and trust God only to provide for our job security, not trust a man, or a company. We are to obey God and go where He wants us to go. We are to do our best and be the best employee we can wherever God places us.

Spend Time with God

Last week I shared with you that I was missing spending time with the Lord and how important it is for me so I can get refreshed and renewed in Him. Today, I want to encourage you to make the time, make the commitment to be with your Creator. He will multiply your time back and will help you get everything you need to do get done. I want to share this devotional with you from my book Devotions for Working Women that encourages us to get to know God at a deeper level. Enjoy!

Deeper Knowledge Comes with Time Alone with the Lord
#341
Mark 4:33-34 (NLT)

He used many such stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they were able to understand. In fact, in his public teaching he taught only with parables, but afterward when he was alone with his disciples, he explained the meaning to them.

The Bible tells us Jesus taught the things of God through parables. Why? Because He could only teach as much as the people were able to receive and therefore understand. God is too deep for us to fully comprehend His things or Himself with our human minds. We first must have an open mind and heart to receive His teachings and understand them in our hearts through our spirit. The Lord takes us one step at a time in His knowledge, one layer of revelation at a time. As we grow, He reveals Himself to us a little more. It is a life-long process until we join Him in heaven.

We should notice, however, that when Jesus was alone with his disciples, He explained the deeper meaning of His teachings. As the disciples walked with Jesus, they drew closer to Him and were able to understand deeper things of God’s Kingdom. The same applies to us today. The only way God can teach, reveal, and entrust us with more knowledge is by us spending time with Him—alone, with no worldly distractions, and with our attention fixed only on Him.

Set aside time from your busy schedule to meet with the Lord, just you and Him, alone. He is faithful and will not only be there waiting for you every time but will also make sure you don’t get behind in any of your other responsibilities. He will multiply your time.

Are You Running on Empty?

How do you encourage others when you yourself need encouragement? These past few weeks I felt a little low, which is very unusual for me. I kept asking myself why I was feeling that way and I finally realized it was because I had not been spending enough time with the Lord. I schedule time with God weekly with no agenda, just to pray and listen to what He has to say to me. This is a time of reflection, thinking about what God wants me to do with my life, replenishing my spirit, and getting filled with His Spirit again. Without prayer in my life, I am depleted. I end up empty with nothing left to give to others.

When I am worn-out (or running low on fuel), my daily work seems like a mountain to be climbed on a daily basis. The tasks at home seem burdensome and tiring. Even working out, which I love to do and that helps me relief stress, feels like I’m running a marathon without preparation. All of those feelings change when I spend time with the Lord. He is my true source of inspiration, strength, grace, and everything I need to fulfill the calling He gave me in this life.

Today, I want to share with you a devotional from my book Devotions for Working Women that encourages us to seek God as our only source of strength. Enjoy!

Only God Is Our Source of Strength
# 129

Philippians 4:13 (KJV)
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

God is our source of strength; nothing, or nobody else, can give us that—only Him. These days we have so much to do, so many priorities, that some days we don’t know where to start. That’s when we run to our source, the Lord. First, we ask Him to refocus us and realign our true priorities. Once we are on track again, we ask for the grace and the strength to do what He has called us to do.

God has a big plan for each of us; however, He doesn’t expect us to do it all at once. He takes us one step at a time—from the big picture to the daily tasks—to accomplish His vision for us. We can do all the things He has called us to do through Christ because He gives us the strength we need on a daily basis.

What Is Your Inheritance?

I have been thinking about the inheritance we all leave our children and what we may receive from our parents and I thought this devotional encourages us to think of inheritance in a whole different way. This devotional is from my book Devotions for Working Women. Enjoy!

God Is Our Inheritance
#111
Psalm 16:5 (NLT)
Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine.

When we think of inheritance, we immediately think of millions of dollars a distant relative left us. In reality, very few people leave a substantial inheritance to their families. Some parents, unfortunately, only leave debt and problems to their children.

One of God’s promises to us is that He will bless us enough to leave an inheritance to our children’s children. But in this verse, David wasn’t talking about a worldly inheritance. He is referring to God Himself being David’s inheritance.

God, as our inheritance, is all we need because He is and has everything we could ever need in this life and in eternity with Him. He is our source of refreshing and fulfillment. His cup is where we go to get ours filled up. He guards all He gives us, including our lives.

Therefore, receive God as your inheritance and you will never need or want anybody else’s.

How to Prepare for Job Loss

Today I heard of another bank that was shut down by regulators and I’m sure more people will lose their jobs as a result of it. Therefore, I thought it was appropriate to share with you the devotional from my book, Devotions for Working Women, that encourages us to be prepared if we lose our job. There are several ways to get prepared and we need to focus on all of them at the same time. We need to always prepare by keeping our skills and knowledge of our industry up to date, we should keep in touch with our network of friends and colleagues so they can connect us to new opportunities, and, most importantly, we need to stay connected with God. Our relationship with Jesus Christ is crucial for when we go through life events such as losing our jobs. Jesus will be there for us to encourage us, give us new ideas, and provide the help we need to move on.

How to Be Prepared if You Ever Lose Your Job
# 231

Matthew 7:24 (NLT)
Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.

Because of the times we live in, job security is unpredictable. The companies we now work for may not be here tomorrow. Therefore, we need to be prepared to move on if we lose our jobs. There are things we can do to prepare for the unexpected. Some of those things are to keep our resumes updated, continue our education, always learn new things, and refine our skills.

Keep your contacts and network active at all times. Know your skills, your talents, and gifts so you can improve and develop them. They are assets that will help you get a new job.

Preparing is important and necessary; however, no matter how ready we may be, if we are not planted on the solid Rock, Jesus, when things happen it will be very difficult to recover. It is like building our house’s foundation on solid rock. When the storms come, the house will not be moved or destroyed. We need to put our trust in Him alone. Only then will we overcome any situation the world may bring to us—including losing our jobs.

The Godly Will Flourish

Today I want to share with you one of the devotionals from my book, Devotions for Working Women, that encourages us to not get weary in well doing. It is very difficult to always walk on the narrow road following Jesus when we are surrounded by worldly things and desires. But in the end, it is always worth the effort. God sees our hearts and he will reward us. His Word is full of promises for when we do good, such as the one I share on this devotional. I encourage you to continue your journey striving to live a godly life.

The Godly Will Flourish
#138
Psalm 92:12-13 (NLT)

But the godly will flourish like palm trees, and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. For they are transplanted into the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of God.

This is a great promise of God to all of us. Sometimes we see the worldly people succeed and we wonder, is it worth it? Are the fight and sacrifices we make on a daily basis to live a godly life worth it? Yes and yes. The Bible reminds us of the wicked’s short-lived success. Their final destination is eternal destruction. Our final destination is eternal life with God. Therefore, our efforts and focus must be in sharing the good news of the Gospel so more people can partake of eternal life. God makes us strong, like the big cedar trees that stand for years and years.

We, the godly, are transplanted directly to God’s own house. What a privilege that is! We cannot take it for granted. His promise to us is that we will flourish in His presence and grow strong so we can do His work on earth.

Don’t get weary in living a godly life for doing so is worth everything. Even if you work in a worldly environment, continue to be an example and the light to the world around you. You are strong in the Lord, and you will flourish.

New Experiences, New Friendships

I just got back from attending the Graduate School of Banking in Madison, WI for the last two weeks. It was an amazing learning experience that I will never forget. I met bankers from all over the U.S. and even from other countries such as Mexico, St. Lucia, Mongolia, and Egypt. I will be going back the next two summers to complete the program. Besides banking, I learned a lot more about people in general. We were placed in a freshman dorm at the University and basically lived the “freshman live” for those two weeks. Needless to say, I had very interesting experiences since I really never stayed on campus when I first started my college journey. The drinking that goes on is beyond what I had imagined. I can see now how the young college students can get hooked in that life style. The key is to choose friends wisely.

As a banker and Christian professional, I felt the responsibility to be an example and not drink as much as the rest of the group. I immediately felt the peer pressure to drink and not care about the surroundings. It was hard to make choices and decisions on the spot about what to do, where to go, and who to hang out with. After the excitement of being on a college campus again wore off, must people settled down with a small group and just went out to dinner or studied together for the exams. However, there were some small groups that continued the drinking each night even though their bodies were complaining by the end of the second week. There was one lady that broke her ankle on the curb while walking and at the hospital they could not give her pain killers because she had too much alcohol in her blood. That was probably not a good experience!

Overall, it was an incredible experience that I would not want to miss. However, next year I will go with my eyes more open and will choose my friends carefully. I believe in making meaningful relationships so I rather spend more time with fewer people to get to know them well, than little time with many more people and come back with no new friendships. I will stay in touch with my new friends and hope to make some life-long friendships. I encourage you to nurture your friendships and spend time with your loved ones.

When I got back I was also very thankful for my life “back home.” I’m thankful for my husband, my children, my job, and everything that God has given me. I don’t take anything for granted.

It's OK to Seek Advice

With new challenges come new opportunities. I am experiencing this situation at work right now. I have decided to step up and take charge of handling a situation that is beyond the scope of my responsibilities. Once I obtained the appropriate authority to proceed with the project, now I have to trust God that He will guide me and also seek advice from others. Seeking advice is humbling and it takes courage but the end result is a collaboration of people working together to achieve the same goal. Today, I want to encourage you to seek advice from other people at work that can help you be successful at whatever you are trying to accomplish. Below is a devotional from my book Devotions for Working Women.

Seeking Advice Is Vital to Success
# 272

Proverbs 15:22 (NLT)
Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many counselors bring success.

Often times we think we can do things alone and we don’t need advice from anybody. God encourages us to work in teams and with many counselors to be successful.

Don’t be too proud to seek advice when you are faced with a difficult situation at work or when you are given a new project to manage. Ask God for direction as to whom to seek advice from and who should be part of your team. Different people bring different opinions and experiences to the table that can help you succeed. If you are a business owner, consider a team of professionals (counselors) to help you in your business planning.

God Created Us to Glorify Him

Today I would like to share with you a devotional from my book Devotions for Working Women that reminds us of God’s primary purpose for creating us—to glorify him! It’s difficult to glorify God in everything we do and to keep that thought present with us throughout the day. Therefore, I have come up with some ideas to keep reminding myself. They are: 1) establish a routine in my daily prayer so I always start by giving thanks for that day and for my life; 2) seek God’s input throughout my workday and ask for his wisdom during difficult situations; and 3) share with someone when God does something for me so it doesn’t go unnoticed. Let’s encourage each other to glorify God!

We Were Created by God’s Power and to Glorify Him
#296

Romans 11:36 (NLT)
For everything comes from him; everything exists by his power and is intended for his glory. To him be glory evermore. Amen.

God created every one of us by His power. He has given us everything we have and made us who we are in Christ—one of God’s beloved children. We must not forget that. When this revelation is present in our lives, we feel confident and know we can do all things through Christ, the One who strengthens us.

Thank God every day for your life, your family, your job, and for all the gifts He has given to you. The purpose of everything He created is intended to bring glory to Him. You were created to glorify God with your life and in all you do. This includes your workplace.

Keep Learning

Education is one of the key factors we need succeed in life. However, educating ourselves can be costly and it takes time—something we are all short of. This summer I will be attending the Graduate School of Banking and I am really excited to enhance my knowledge of banking. These days, we need to continue our education so we can grow with our jobs and stay current with technology and new laws and regulations that apply to our industry. Today, I want to encourage you to follow your heart and get the education you always wanted. If you already have a college degree or even a master’s degree, you can learn something new in another area that you enjoy. Sometimes we have gifts we are not able to apply or use in our jobs so we need to find other opportunities to develop and use those talents.

Our talents and gifts are like precious stones that need to first be discovered and then polished until they are ready to be used. God gave each person more than one gift and we must use them for His glory during the time we have on earth. When we are aware of the gifts we have then we can start developing them and we will then experience the satisfaction of seeing our talents put to work.

Below is one of the devotionals from my book Devotions for Working Women that encourages us to acquire a life-long learning attitude. Enjoy!

Acquire a Life-long Learning Attitude
# 260
Mark 4:25 (NLT)

To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what they have will be taken away from them.

Jesus encouraged His disciples to always be open to listen and continue to learn from Him because the higher their desire was to learn, the more they understood. On the contrary, people who don’t care or listen to the things of God drift away and forget even the little they know.

To be successful in the corporate world and our personal lives, we need to become life-long learners. This is true in the natural as well as in the spiritual area. We cannot grow in our spiritual journey with God if we don’t spend time learning from Him and are not open to His daily teaching to us. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, is willing to teach us how to live our lives and be successful in every area.

Jesus said those who are open to His teachings will receive more understanding because the things of God are understood with the spirit, not with our human minds. When we open our hearts to learn about the things of God, our spiritual understanding is illuminated and we receive revelation—the moment when we “get it.”

Purpose in your heart to be open to a life-long learning attitude both professional and spiritually. This will ensure a well-balanced successful life here on earth.

Can You Handle Success?

Most of us are afraid of failure. But have you ever been afraid of success? Success just as failure has consequences in our lives and we must prepare ourselves either way. If you have a business idea that you are pondering on, think not only of the consequences of it not working out but also what if it does work out. What then? Would your life be changed forever? How will you handle success? It is easier to be humble when you are a “nobody” in the business world and when we don’t have much to lose financially. But would you still be the normal you and be humble at heart after success has taken place in your life?

Today, I want to encourage you to pray for your plans and believe they will be successful. But I also want to encourage you to be prepared for success and stay humble in your heart by thanking God daily for it and being aware that without Him you would not be successful to begin with. This devotional is from my book Devotions for Working Women and it reminds us that our plans can succeed when we commit our work to the Lord. Enjoy!

Your Plans Can Succeed
# 283

Proverbs 16:3 (NLT)
Commit your work to the Lord, and then your plans will succeed.

We all have plans we want to realize and be successful in executing. The King James Version of this verse says “commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” Every one of our plans starts with a thought, an idea. When we commit our lives to God it includes our work and every area of our lives. When we commit our work unto the Lord, He will help us realize those plans and our thoughts will be established. Our plans will succeed.

Therefore, remember to commit your work to the Lord on a daily basis.

We Are God's Laborers

Today I found out a good friend of mine got promoted to run a big company. I have told her that I pray for her often but now I feel an even greater urgency to pray for her because her life is about to change. When God puts us in high places of visibility we must realize the great responsibility that goes with those assignments. Therefore, we need to gather the entire armor of God and put it on before we go out in the open. In addition, we need the prayers of all the people who love us.

I want to encourage you to pray for your friends that are in the business world running companies and working in Corporate America. They need our prayers to sustain them as they do God’s work in the field of business. Corporate America is crying for laborers and those of us called to work that field must be ready to harvest those souls for God’s Kingdom. Today, I would like to share this devotional that asks us the question: Are you one of God’s workers? Enjoy!

Are You One of God’s Workers?
#210
Matthew 9:37-38 (NLT)
He said to his disciples, “The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.”

Jesus said those words after being with multitudes of people who went to Him with their problems. He was only one and He saw the great need of having more of Him on earth. As we become born again, when we ask Jesus to come into our lives, we become God’s laborers and workers of His field. The harvest is God’s, but He needs us to work it for Him.

Most of us consider ourselves good workers. In fact, we welcome and look for opportunities for promotion. As workers of the Kingdom of God, our attitude toward new opportunities should be the same, and we should ask ourselves some questions. Are we doing a good job for God? Are we bringing in the harvest? Are we looking to be promoted in the Kingdom of God? With God our jobs are not just a title. In His Kingdom, the higher the position, the more responsibility we have with people’s lives. Jesus said, “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all” (Mark 10:44 KJV). The higher we go in God’s positions, the more we have to serve others.

Therefore, let’s ask God for more workers to help us with the great task we have ahead. But also, let’s ask Him to help us be the best workers we can be for His Kingdom.

You can purchase Devotions for Working Women at www.amazon.com.

The Mission Field

Today I want to share a poem I wrote called The Mission Field. We are all called to serve God but we are each called to work a different part of the world’s field. Which field are you working on? Do you have the tools to harvest your field? Are you staying away from your calling? These and many other questions came to my mind as I wrote this poem so I want to share it with you so you can ponder on it. Enjoy!

The Mission Field
The whole world is a big mission field
But just as there are different climates and geographical areas in the world
There are people that are equipped and used to those places
Where they can work the different fields

Whether we want to or not, we are all called to work the fields
It is our choice, however, to become God’s worker
It is a matter of the heart
Once we make the decision to follow Christ
He starts opening the doors to show us where our gifts can best be utilized
He will give us the tools and equipment we need just in time to be used
Our part is to be willing and to always be learning about the things of God
So we can be ready to work our field—no matter what the circumstances are

Many times we will be tired of working
Many times we will want to quit
Yet other times we will want to keep working until our bodies can no longer stand on their own—that is when God will ask us to rest
There is time to work and there is time to rest
We just need to have balance and know that what we cannot do, God can

Sometimes just when we thought we knew how to work a specific field
God will ask us to move and start working a new, different field
We may feel inadequate all over again
We may feel confused and disoriented
But God has a plan
We just need to be obedient and follow His lead
Stepping into new territory is always scary and sometimes dangerous
But when we have the light of Jesus guiding us
And we trust Him that He knows best
Then we can freely and confidently step into the unknown

In the end, when our lives are spent
We can then look back and look at the harvest from the fields we worked
Knowing we have done everything we can to follow Christ
We will have peace in our hearts because we were obedient
We will have no regrets
When our last breath comes
We will remember the first steps of our mission
We will reminisce in the tremendous amount of work that was ahead of us in those fields
And we will be satisfied knowing that when we get to heaven
Jesus will say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Let's Work the Field

Have you ever met someone with whom you feel comfortable sharing your heart with from the start and then, as you share, you find out you have many things in common? That happened to me recently when I met two ladies from a non-profit organization that helps the poor become self-sufficient. As we shared our lives, we discovered that God has called us to help the poor but in different ways. They are called to help the poor directly by being with them and by implementing programs that will teach them how to be successful entrepreneurs—even if it is in a small scale in a third world country. I am called to Corporate America where I can help leaders like them get connected with people that can sponsor their programs. I can also potentially help them by creating awareness about their organization so other people get involved which in turn results in increased funding for their organization to continue to grow.

Regardless of your calling, God has called each one of us to be His worker and to work the field. There are different fields for different people because God needs workers everywhere and with various skills. The poor and rich alike—they all need Jesus and His gift of salvation. Today I want to share one of the devotionals from my book Devotions for Working Women that challenges us to be one of God’s workers.

Are You One of God’s Workers?
# 210
Matthew 9:37-38 (NLT)
He said to his disciples, “The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.”

Jesus said those words after being with multitudes of people who went to Him with their problems. He was only one and He saw the great need of having more of Him on earth. As we become born again, when we ask Jesus to come into our lives, we become God’s laborers and workers of His field. The harvest is God’s, but He needs us to work it for Him.

Most of us consider ourselves good workers. In fact, we welcome and look for opportunities for promotion. As workers of the Kingdom of God, our attitude toward new opportunities should be the same, and we should ask ourselves some questions. Are we doing a good job for God? Are we bringing in the harvest? Are we looking to be promoted in the Kingdom of God? With God our jobs are not just a title. In His Kingdom, the higher the position, the more responsibility we have with people’s lives. Jesus said, “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all” (Mark 10:44 KJV). The higher we go in God’s positions, the more we have to serve others.

Therefore, let’s ask God for more workers to help us with the great task we have ahead. But also, let’s ask Him to help us be the best workers we can be for His Kingdom.

You can purchase Devotions for Working Women at www.amazon.com.

Finish Your Race

I’m not a runner… but today I ran a 5K. I had two goals: 1) to finish the race; and 2) to finish under 30 minutes. Well, I finished and under 28 minutes so I feel accomplished. While running I was thinking of how easy it is to just quit when you start getting tired, when you see others passing you by, and when you see an uphill trail coming up your way. On the other hand, when I had positive thoughts of how much I have trained to do the race, how good it felt when I was the one passing others by, and when I was in tune with my heartbeat going at a steady pace without feeling I was going to faint. When you run, all these feelings and thoughts go through your head and as expert runners have told me—the mind is a powerful tool that can help you win or drive you to quit and lose.

In the big picture, we all have a race to run—our lives. During our lives we will have uphill roads we will have to travel and go through. We will encounter detours we were not expecting that may delay us or discourage us. We may see others passing us by and getting ahead of us in life and we may also pass others too.

Today, I want to encourage you that no matter what you encounter in life, you must finish your race. Train and prepare yourself for the difficult times and enjoy when the race is going well and you feel you can do it. But don’t forget to take Jesus with you throughout your entire race. He will be there to encourage you, to give you living water when you’re thirsty, to tell you that you can do it when your mind is telling you otherwise, to keep you safe despite the outside circumstances, and to give you the satisfaction of finishing your race in the end. Don’t ever live home without Him!

Faith and Patience - Keys to Your Success

This week I met with one of my career mentors and he gave me very valuable input that will help me now and going forward. There are business decisions that the top leaders of the organization make that are “political” in nature and not necessarily have anything to do with you, the person. Although we may not understand the reasons for certain decisions we need to accept them and move on. On one hand, my human side can get upset and start thinking there are other reasons for a specific decision when in reality there aren’t. On the other hand, I trust God with my life and that includes my career. I firmly believe God allows things to happen for a reason and that He knows what’s best for me. Therefore, I have to trust Him, not get offended, and move forward with a positive attitude. Today I want to share a devotional from my book Devotions for Working Women that encourages us to have faith and patience because they are both keys to our success. Enjoy!

Faith and Patience Are Key to Your Success
#266

James 1:2-4 (KJV)
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Part of living in this world is to experience trials and temptations. James encourages us to use those trials as an opportunity for joy because it is by going through those experiences that we grow and learn to be patient. When we become “perfect” (or mature in patience), we arrive at a spiritual place where we are entire and want nothing.

God allows us to go through those trials so we can grow in Him—in faith and patience. Remember, the test is on what we believe. When we pass those tests, our faith is stronger and we move on to the next level of maturity in the Lord.

Faith and patience are two crucial ingredients to your success in life. If you are experiencing trials at work or at home, ask God, in faith, for wisdom to know what to do and for patience to help you get through it. The first key is to have faith and believe God will answer you and help you out of that situation. The second key is to have patience while you wait for His answer. If you do this, you will come out in the end more mature and patient—wanting nothing.

It's Ok to Wait on the Lord

The past few weeks have been a test for me because I’ve asked God to bring to pass a promise that I believe He wants me to have and it didn’t happen… So even though I was disappointed I firmly believe God knows what’s best for me. Now I have to trust Him that someday His promise will become a reality in my life but it will be in His perfect timing. Having said that, I still feel sad and discouraged so I decided to look for a Devotional that would bring me new hope and I would like to share it with you too. If you feel discouraged, know that when we wait expectantly on the Lord, He always comes through for us.

Wait Expectantly on the Lord
# 143
Psalm 5:3 (NLT)
Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

David’s plea to the Lord was a daily act of faith. Every morning he talked to God and made his requests known to Him. He then waited on God and expected Him to listen to his prayers and answer them. We often treat God as a magician. We tell Him what we want and expect Him to respond immediately, like magic! We don’t wait patiently on Him. Other times we pray to God and don’t even expect Him to hear or answer our prayer. Then we get discouraged and stop asking altogether. We lose our faith in God. Both extremes are wrong. We are to ask God to meet our needs and wait expectantly as David did.

When we wait on the Lord we put our faith, hope, and trust in Him. This act blesses God. He then gives us the grace we need to wait until His answer manifests. We must learn to wait patiently because His timetable is not ours. He knows what’s best for us and that includes the right time. When His timing comes, He will give us a solution better than any we would have thought of on our own.

If you need change in your workplace, a new boss, a different job, or want to change fields, wait expectantly from the Lord. Expect to receive whatever He thinks is best for you, not just what you asked Him for. Once you give your request to Him, sincerely believe in your heart that He will answer your prayer and thank Him in advance for the answer.

God Gives Us the Desires of Our Hearts

Have you been waiting for a desire of your heart that has yet to come true? God’s Word has many promises for all humanity such as salvation but He also has special promises for each one of us. Sometimes though His timing and our timing are not the same and we need to wait until He’s ready to bring it to pass. Today I want to share one of the devotionals from my book, Devotions for Working Women, that encourages us by reminding us that God does give us the desires of our hearts. Enjoy!

God Gives us the Desires of Our Hearts
#303

Psalm 37:4-5 (NLT)
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.

God places desires in our hearts. When we delight in Him (take time to be with Him, spend time in His presence, and fellowship with Him), He will give us those desires. When we commit ourselves to do everything unto the Lord, He will help us achieve our goals. In other words, when we spend time with Him, we give Him an opportunity to change us, to exchange old desires with new ones. Therefore, when we desire what He put in our hearts, He will help us achieve those desires because He put them there in the first place.

Are you spending enough time with the Lord to give Him the opportunity to place those desires in your heart? What kind of job do you desire to have? Are you in the industry you desire to be?

Happy Easter!

This weekend is the time to thank God for sending us His son to give us the eternal gift of salvation—something we cannot obtain on our own no matter what we do. This devotional today reminds us that we are saved by grace through faith. Remember Jesus this weekend and thank Him for going through the process of the cross.

We Are Saved by Grace through Faith
#144
Galatians 2:16 (NLT)
“And yet we Jewish Christians know that we become right with God, not by doing what the law commands, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be accepted by God because of our faith in Christ—and not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be saved by obeying the law.”

God promised Abraham a savior. God gave Moses the laws 430 years later to keep the people guarded until Jesus came. When Jesus realized God’s promise on earth, the old system of the law was no longer needed. According to the old law, people were cursed if they didn’t follow the law. But when Jesus died on the cross, He became sin and was cursed for us. “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” (Galatians 3:13 NLT). So now that faith in Christ has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. We are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are united in Christ, and there is no more Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female—we are one in Christ Jesus. Once we belong to Christ, we are true children of Abraham. We are his heirs, and now all the promises God gave to him belong to us (vv. 9-29).

The message is, all humans alike, are saved by the grace of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. This was God’s plan from the beginning; it is the same now, and will never change. The only thing we have to do is accept Jesus in our hearts and have faith in Him. He already did the rest to save us.

Self-Control Is Key to Success in Business

This week was very hard at work. Some things didn’t go as planned, others were not planned at all, and other things were rushed at the last minute. It all contributed to opportunities to get angry and frustrated at situations and people. I was successful at not getting angry in some circumstances and not successful in others. But it all gave me time to reflect and see how we can improve the way we do things and how I can work better with others. Today I would like to share a devotional from my book Devotions for Working Women that encourages us to remain calm and practice self-control in the workplace. I hope it helps you as it helped me this past week.

Self-control Is Key to Success in Business
#273

James 1:19-20 (NLT)
Dear friends, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.

There are many opportunities in the workplace to become angry. For example: the vendor didn’t deliver what he promised, your employee didn’t follow your directions and messed up, your customer is never satisfied with your product or service, your boss treated you unfairly, etc. I could go on and on.

Even though we may have good reasons to be upset, the Bible tells us to do the opposite—to listen to other people first, to be slow to speak, and slow to get angry. This seems to go against our nature. In fact, many times it feels good to be angry. Yet the Bible also tells us why we should not get angry—it “can never make things right in God’s sight.”

Self-control is a must if you want to be successful in the business world. It is a sign of maturity in the spiritual realm and professionalism in the natural realm. Therefore, practice self-control and train yourself by listening to people, waiting to speak, and by not getting angry so easily. I’m sure you will have plenty of daily opportunities to practice in your workplace.

You can purchase Devotions for Working Women at www.amazon.com.